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For Universities and Institutions around the world, its always been a challenge maintaining academic integrity when it comes to evaluating and examining hundreds and thousands of students enrolled in continuing education or distance education programs throughout the country, even overseas. But, with the advent of broadband internet, the omnipresent camera in todays devices, and online video technology, educational technology platforms like u18 have found a way to allow students from the farthest corners of the World to literally ‘appear’ for their course exams without moving from their offices or homes!

The Online – Web – Proctored – Examination System, or OWPES as U18 calls it, allows partner universities on the u18 platform to conduct exams delivered to students desktops anywhere in the world, with a proctoring team at u18 monitoring the examination via live video from the students end for the entire duration of the program, ensuring that no student takes liberties with the process. The entire session is also recorded, as is the screen activities, which are also monitored simultaneously. The proctoring team is well trained in invigilations, and can pickup tell tale signs of a student trying to cheat off a sheet of paper or a hidden book , and are authorized and equipped to shut down such exams immediately.

University officials have access to archives of proctoring session videos and transcripts for as much as upto 7 years, and can investigate any exam at any time, making this a much more secure examination system as compared to the traditional brick and mortar – pen paper exams conducted, where there are no recordings or video to validate later.

The technology platform has allowed Universities such as the Assam Don Bosco University, of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the University of Mysore, one of India;s oldest universities, to evaluate students from far corners of the world, while maintaining academic standards and due process.

This great new platform from u18 also allows students who has so far little or no access to courses and programs at these great universities now can enrol from anywhere in the world!

On the 16th of June, 2014, U18 completed 5 years of its partnership with Karnataka State Open University.

And now its time to move on.

Our collaboration with Karnataka State Open University, or KSOU, was one of the first few for KSOU, as for us. Both of us benefitted both in terms of learning and the growth associated with it from this partnership. The partnership saw the launch of 7 Programs, over these 5 years, and thousands of students enrolling from India as well as overseas.

It was during the early days of this partnership that we at U18 got an opportunity to organize our first overseas exams (pen and paper at that time), out of a University in Dubai and a Convention hall at the local Hilton in Northampton , UK!

These experiences and many more like them have proven to be invaluable, in the way they’ve moulded U18’s present and future.

And now, its time to move on.

In an effort to improve the level of services we provide to our students, some time ago we took a decision to limit ourselves to working with only a select few Universities, ones that are dedicated to the ‘Online’ mode , rather than trying to make Online Education and its delivery systems coexist with existing brick and mortar channels.

With that in mind, we shall not be offering any new enrolments in any of our KSOU certified Programs, but would of course continue to work with the University towards the delivery and teach out of the students still enrolled.

KSOU Exams being conducted at Zayed University, Dubai by U18

KSOU Exams being conducted at Zayed University, Dubai by U18

We look back to these five years with a quiet sense of satisfaction, one that comes from a job well done.